Unearthing Newark's Treasures: A Walking Trail Through the City's 350 Years of Diverse Culture and Rich History

Share Article

The Greater Newark Convention & Visitors Bureau and Prudential Financial, Inc. support health, history and the humanities in downtown Newark as they launch, Newark Walks, one of several initiatives celebrating the City’s 350th anniversary. The new, self-guided, walking tour will explore the City’s 350 years of history by providing visitors and residents with a route that showcases architecture, historic people and places, sculpture, and monuments that define the City’s achievements.

Military Park: Newark, NJ

The Newark Walks trail is a creative way to introduce residents and visitors to Newark’s fascinating history, as well as some of the exciting new development under way. --John Strangfeld, Prudential Chairman and CEO.

Newark, NJ (PRWEB)October 07, 2016

Today, Mayor Ras J. Baraka and Prudential Financial Chairman and CEO John Strangfeld unveiled Newark Walks, a walking trail through downtown Newark that explores the city’s rich 350 years of history and culture. Chairman of the Newark 350 Initiative Junius Williams, representatives from the Greater Newark Convention and Visitors Bureau, the City Council, local residents and workers joined in the celebration. The collection of 83 points of interest, outlined in the Newark Walks app (found in the Apple Store or Google Play Store) and spread between 53 locations in downtown Newark, showcases architecture, historic people and places, monuments, and artistic and cultural attractions.

The 5K trail boasts several historical points of interest including Newark Arts High School, the first visual and performing arts high school in the country, whose graduates include Sarah Vaughan, Savion Glover and Melba Moore; The Hahne & Co. Building, Newark’s first department store and future home of the City’s first Entrepreneur Center; Krueger Mansion, the most elaborate mansion ever built in Newark and future home of the state’s first micro-manufacturing facility; Military Park, a campsite for General Washington’s army that was renovated in 2014 to include movies, yoga, free Wi-Fi and children’s activities; and WBGO, one of the first school-board operated radio stations in the nation, now a jazz radio station that offers syndicated programming 24/7.

“Newark Walks is the most recent demonstration of our commitment to make Newark a walkable city,” said Mayor Ras J. Baraka. “This 5K pathway throughout downtown Newark shows off many of our historic landmarks, and when used in conjunction with the mobile app, shares fun facts about the City with people as they walk the trail. We are grateful to our partners at the Greater Newark Convention and Visitors’ Bureau and Prudential for helping to make this trail a reality.”

Newark Walks is currently open to the public. It is made possible through a $300,000 grant from The Prudential Foundation and is the result of collaboration among Newark natives, residents, city officials, businesses, as well as educational and cultural organizations.

"The Newark Walks trail is a creative way to introduce residents and visitors to Newark’s fascinating history, as well as some of the exciting new development under way," said John Strangfeld, Prudential Chairman and CEO. "All of us at Prudential are very proud to support the trail and the celebration of the city’s 350th anniversary. We look forward to continuing our long-standing partnership with our neighbors in Newark, as we work together to ensure the city is a rewarding place to both live and work."

Newark Walks is one of several initiatives launched in celebration of the City’s 350th anniversary. In addition to highlighting the City’s gems, the trail presents a great opportunity to keep the people of Newark healthy. The mobile app for this 5K route provides users with information about the sites, as well as fitness-related facts such as distance walked and calories burned. Educators and parents will also enjoy the app’s scavenger hunt and 350 trivia-question contest, created by local college students.

“The Newark Walks 5K Trail will engage users experientially while they explore the city’s rich history. We expect Newark Walks to increase ‘pride of place’ among those who live and/or work here, and increased regard for the city among visitors. The Greater Newark Convention and Visitors’ Bureau is grateful to The Prudential Foundation for providing the support that made Newark Walks a reality,” said Cathleen Lewis, Greater Newark Convention and Visitors’ Bureau Board Chair.

About Prudential Financial, Inc.: Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE: PRU), a financial services leader with more than $1 trillion of assets under management as of June 30, 2016, has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe and Latin America. Prudential’s diverse and talented employees are committed to helping individual and institutional customers grow and protect their wealth through a variety of products and services, including life insurance, annuities, retirement-related services, mutual funds and investment management. In the U.S., Prudential’s iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, stability, expertise and innovation for more than a century. For more information, please visit http://www.prudential.com.

About the Greater Newark Convention & Visitors Bureau: The GNCVB is a private 501(c) (6) New Jersey, non-profit corporation funded by Newark’s hotels. As a Tourism Improvement District, the GNCVB creates economic growth in Newark and local jobs for Newarkers by:

Increasing the number of overnight visitors staying at Newark’s hotels

Increasing the length of the average overnight stay

Increasing per capita spending by hotel guests at Newark’s restaurants and attractions

The GNCVB Board of directors is composed of local hoteliers, tourism professionals and key cultural and civic leaders.